Indian board announce England tour dates

The Indian Board has issued the schedule for England's tour during March and April 2006. The three Test matches will be played in Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Mumbai, while the seven-match ODI series includes a game in Goa, at the Nehru Stadium, subject to the ground being cleared over alleged malpractices in 2001.

The Goa Cricket Association faces an inquiry over the ODI it staged with Australia and SK Nair, the BCCI secretary, said that the match was allocated on the provision that the ground would be cleared. "Goa will host a one-day international against England provided the report of the BCCI Disciplinary Committee exonerates it and the findings are ratified by the Board's Working Committee."

England's first Test will start on March 8 in Ahmedabad, followed by the second Test at Nagpur from March 16 to 20. The series will wrap up in Mumbai between March 25 and 29.

As well as the match in Goa, ODIs will also be staged at Indore, Guwahati, Faridabad, Cuttack, Cochin and Visakhapatnam. The ODI series starts on April 4 and ends on April 22. England will also play two warm-up matches between February 25-27 and March 2-4 but the venues for those have yet to be decided.

Nair said that the Board had issued the dates now to help the ECB with their planning: "We had to decide on the venues for the series quickly as the ECB wanted to finalise their travel schedules.

"We previously wanted to take a decision in this regard after the Annual General Meeting of the Board but since it is adjourned at the moment, the prevailing committee had to take the decision."

The grounds were allotted the matches according to the BCCI's rotation policy and the decision has to be ratified by the Working Committee of the Board and Nair added: "If the ECB so chooses, they can send its teams to access the venues decided for the series."

The three Tests against Sri Lanka have been allotted to Delhi, Kanpur and Chennai, though the order in which the games will be staged in December will only be determined after consultations with Sri Lankan officials.